Crushing machine with flexible drive



Feb. 13, 1962 E. E. SHOLIN CRUSHING MACHINE WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 8, 1961 INVENTOR 5551/ o L/N- A'I'T ORNEY a 7/5 4 6 6 a a r 5 V w fl M /w f i/ 04. 7 2 9 my Feb. 13, 1962 E. E. SHOLINCRUSHING MACHINE WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE Filed May 8, 1961 2 Sheets-$11681-2 0 N EN'IOR 5 5/7 Qu/v ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,020,832 ICRUHING MACHINE WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE Edwin E. Sholin, Box 21, Albion,Calif. Filed May 8, 1961, Ser. No. 108,412 3 Claims. (Cl. 100-233) Thisinvention relates to a machine of extremely simple construction which iscapable of effectively functioning for crushing disposable containersincluding cans.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to providean extremely compact machine composed of a minimum number of parts andhaving novel means of extremely simple construction for converting arotary motion into a reciprocating motion.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a crushing machineincluding a self-contained power source for supplying the rotary motionto the reciprocably actuated part which, in turn, actuates a movablecrushing element.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawings, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the crushing machine;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional View thereof, taken substantiallyalong the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, takensubstantially along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, takensubstantially along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 FIGURE 5 is an enlargedtransverse fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken substantiallyalong the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view,taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 6-6 of FIGURE1, and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view,taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 7-7 of FIGURE2.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the crushing machine in itsentirety is designated generally 10 and includes an elongated rigidrectangular frame 11 composed of spaced apart substantially parallelside walls 12 and 13, and spaced substantially parallel end walls 14 and'15. The end walls 14 and 15 may be formed integral with the side wall13, as illustrated, and the side wall 12 may be provided with inturnedend flanges 16 which overlap and are detachably secured by nut and boltfastenings 17 to the other ends of the walls 14 and 15, as seen inFIGURE 1. The frame 11 has an open bottom 18, formed by coplanar bottomedges of the walls 12-15, and an open top 19. The side walls 12 and 13are each provided with a relatively wide and deep upwardly openingrecess 20, which recesses are disposed in alignment with one another andspaced from the end walls 14 and 15.

A platform 21 is mounted for vertical swinging movement in one end ofthe bottom portion of the frame 11, as by means of hinges 22 which aresecured to said platform and to a bracing strip 23 which is secured toand disposed along the inner side of the lower portion of the end wall15. The platform 21 is disposed somewhat above the level of the plane ofthe open bottom 18, when the platform is disposed substantially parallelthereto. A conventional reversible electric motor 24 has a base 25 whichrests on and is secured by fastenings 26 to the platform 21. The motor24 is positioned so that its armature or drive shaft 27 is disposedlongitudinally of the frame 11 and a small V-belt pulley 28 is fixed tothe end 3,020,832 Patented Feb. 13, 1962 of the shaft 27 which islocated remote from the end wall 15 and between and spaced from thewalls 14 and 15.

A stationary crushing plate 29 is disposed within the frame 11 betweenthe side walls 12 and 13 and adjacent the end wall 14. The plate 29 haslugs 30 which project from its side edges through slots 31 in the walls12 and 13 for supporting said plate immovably in the frame 11. The plate29 is substantially flat and is disposed in substantially an uprightposition except the lower portion 32 thereof which is curved slightlyand inclined toward the end Wall 14.

A movable crushing plate or jaw 33, of a width slightly less than thespacing between the side walls 12 and 13, is disposed within the frame11 between the stationary plate 29 and the power source 24 and islikewise substantially flat except the lower portion 34 thereof which iscurved to slope away from the lower portion 32. The lower end of theplate 33, on the side thereof remote from the plate 29, is provided withaligned apertured lugs 35 through which a bolt 36 extends. The headedbolt36 extends through the side walls 12 and 13 and is secured theretoby a nut 37, and the lugs 35 turnably engage said bolt for mounting thejaw 33 for rocking movement about the bolt toward and away from theplate 29, as illustrated in full and dotted lines in FIGURE 2. The bolt36 is located adjacent to but spaced from the frame bottom 18 and thelower plate portions 32 and 34 terminate slightly above the bottom 18and are spaced from one another, as seen in FIGURE 2. The jaw or plate33 has a vertically elongated opening 38 near its upper end andapproximately midway between its side edges. The inner side or face ofthe jaw 33 may be roughened or serrated, as indicated at 39.

A pair of rigid bars 40 and 41 of angular cross section extend acrossthe frame 11. The bars 40 and 41 are longer than the spacing between thewalls 12 and 13 and have coplanar bottom horizontal flanges or sides 42and 43, respectively, which engage in horizontal slots 44 of the walls12 and 13, as seen in FIGURE 6, which slots open into intermediateportions of the recesses 20. The bars 40 and 41 have upstanding innervertical flanges 45 and 46, respectively, which extend through the recesses 20 and which abut against the opposite edges 47 and 48,respectively, thereof. Cotter pins or the like 49 extend throughopenings 50 of the horizontal flanges 42 and 43 and embrace the walls 12and 13, as seen in FIGURE 1, to prevent sliding movement of the bars 40and 41 crosswise of the frame 11.

The vertical flanges 45 and 46 are provided, intermediate of their ends,with aligned upwardly opening notches 51 and 52, respectively, thebottom portions of which are substantially semicircular, as seen in FIG-URE 5.

A large V-belt pulley 53 is disposed between the bars 40 and 41 and hasa hub 54 which projects from one side of the pulley. The projectingportion of the tub 54 is provided with an annular groove 55 which fitsturnably in the notch 52. The hub 54 has a threaded bore 56 extendingtherethrough, so that said hub .fro'ms a nut in which a threaded rod 57is received. .A bushing 58 engages in the notch 51 and has a smooth bore59 extending therethrough, in which the threaded rod 57 has a slidableengagement. 'Ihe bushing 58 has an enlarged or flanged end forming ahead 60 which is disposed between the flange 45 and the other end of thepulley hub 54 to combine with the hub groove 55 for confining the pulley53 between and spaced from the bars 40 and 41. It will thus be seen thatthe bushing 58, rod 57 and the hub groove 55 combine to support thepulley 53 rotatably on and between the bars 40 and 41 and, incombination with the cotter pins 49, retain said pulley againsttranslational movement relative to the frame 11.

The rod 57 has a stem 61 at one end thereof of rectangular crosssection, as seen in FIGURE 3, which extends through the opening 38 andfits slidibly but non rotatably therein, so that the rod is held againstrotation by the jaw 33. A pin 62 extends through the stem 61 and acrossthe opening 38 for slidably confining the stem therein. The threadedportion of the rod 57 is larger in diameter than the width of theopening 38.

A bracket 63 extends inwardly from and is supported by the wall 13 tosupport a conventional tumbler or toggle switch 64 which is disposedabove the motor 24, between the end wall 15 and bar 40 and between theside wall 13 and rod 57. The toggle switch 64 has an arm or lever 65which is swingably movable about an axis disposed crosswise of the rod57 and by a snap action for reversing the electric motor; switch 64being interposed in the electric circuit 66 of the motor 24, as seen inFIGURE 1.

The threaded rod 57 has a stem 67 of reduced size at its opposite end,which is located between the end wall 15 and the bushing 58. A collar 68is secured on the stem 67 by a pin 69 which extends through said stem.One end of a contractile spring 70 is connected to the collar 68 and theother end of said spring is connected to the arm 65.

An endless V-belt 71 is trained around the pulleys 53 and 28 for drivingthe pulley 53 from the motor shaft 27. The pulley 53 is of a much largerdiameter than the pulley 28 so that said pulley will be driven muchslower than the pulley 28. The weight of the motor 24 on the hingedplatform 21 urges said platform to swing downwardly for maintainingtension on the belt 71.

Assuming that the parts are disposed in the positions as seen in FIGURES1 and 2, in which position the arm 65 has just been moved by snap actionfrom its dotted line to its full line position of FIGURE 2 for reversingthe motor 24, in this position of the parts the movable jaw 33 is in afully open position so that a can or other disposable container, notshown, can be dropped through the open top 19 of the frame into thespace between the crushing plates 29 and 33. With the switch arm 65 inthe position as seen in FIGURES l and 2, the pulley 53 will be driven ina direction for feeding the rod 57 from left to right through the hub 54for moving said rod and the jaw 33 from the full line to the dotted linepositions of said parts, as seen in FIGURE 2. During this movement thecan or other receptacle, disposed between the plates 29 and 33, will becrushed or partially crushed. The thrust receiving head 60 of thebushing 58 will receive the thrust exerted by the rod 57 on the pulleyhub 54 to prevent the pulley from moving toward the bar 40. When the rod57 reaches its dotted line position of FIGURE 2, the collar 68 will bein its dotted line position of this view and at which time the arm 65will have been pulled by the spring 70 from its full line to its dottedline position for reversing the motor 24, so that the pulley 53 willthereafter be driven in the opposite direction for moving the rod 57 inthe other direction, to return said rod and the jaw 33 to their fullline positions of FIGURE 2. The aforedescribed operation effectingswinging movement of the jaw 33 toward and away from the plate 29 willbe repeated automatically for crushing any container or containersdisposed between said plates until the container can pass between thelower plate portions 32 and 34 and be discharged by gravity from themachine 10. It will be obvious that more than one container can becrushed simultaneously and that containers to be crushed can be fedintermittently into the machine while other containers are beingcrushed. The slight thrust which is imparted in the opposite directionto the hub 54, while the rod 57 is moving toward the end wall 15, forswinging the jaw 33 away from the plate 29, is borne by the grooved hubportion engaging in the notch 52.

The machine 10 can be secured to any suitable support, not shown, or canbe disposed with its bottom 18 resting on a horizontal supportingsurface, but so that the part thereof disposed beneath the plateportions 32 and 34 will be exposed to allow the crushed containers to bedischarged by gravity from the machine.

It will be readily apparent that other forms of flexible drives may beprovided between the shaft 27 and hub 54, such as a sprocket wheel andchain drive, since the belt and pulleys as shown only constitute oneform of flexible drive which may be employed.

Various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may beresorted to, without departing from the function or scope of theinvention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A crushing machine comprising a rigid frame having side walls, areversible power source disposed in and supported by said frame, astationary crushing plate secured in substantially an upright positionin the frame and crosswise thereof, a movable crushing plate, meansswingably mounting said movable crushing plate in the frame in opposedrelation to the stationary crushing plate for swinging movement towardand away from the stationary crushing plate about a substantiallyhorizontal axis disposed adjacent a bottom edge of the movable crushingplate, a pair of rigid braces spanning the frame and connected to saidside walls in spaced apart relation to one another, said movablecrushing plate being disposed adjacent to the stationary crushing plateand between the stationary crushing plate and said braces, a threadedrod extending across said braces, a nut threadedly engaging on said rod,means reciprocably supporting said rod on the braces for supporting andjournaling said nut between the braces, means nonrotatably connectingone end of said rod to the movable crushing plate remote from the pivotthereof for sliding movement of the rod relative to said movablecrushing plate toward and away from the axis of said pivot, said powersource having a rotatably driven part, a large belt pulley disposedaround and fixed to the nut, a small belt pulley fixed to the rotatablydriven part, and an endless belt trained over the belt pulleys andforming a flexible driving connection between the power source and notfor rotating the nut in opposite directions to feed the threaded rodback and forth therethrough for oscillating the movable crushing platetoward and away from said stationary crushing plate.

2. A crushing machine as in claim 1, and a platform pivotally mounted inthe frame for vertical swinging movement, said platform being disposedbelow the large belt pulley and having the power source mounted thereonwhereby the weight of the power source is supported by paid belt formaintaining the belt tensioned about the puleys.

3. A crushing machine as in claim 1, an electric circuit supplyingelectric current to the power source, and a reversing switch interposedin the electric circuit and connected to said threaded rod for reversingthe power source as the threaded rod reaches the extremities of itsreciprocating movement.

Picone Dec. 30, 1958 Sholin Dec. 6, 1960

